GENEVA: August was the hottest month ever recorded globally, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday, as ocean temperatures also reached unprecedented levels and western Europe experienced its hottest summer on record.
Global average air temperatures in August reached 16.96°C, surpassing by 0.01°C the previous monthly record set in July 2023. Copernicus said, however, that the two months should be considered joint-highest because of the extremely narrow difference.
Copernicus observations date back to 1940, while evidence from ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons enables scientists to place current temperatures in a much longer historical context.
“Humans haven’t seen temperatures as hot as today for, arguably, at least the last 100,000 years,” Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which oversees Copernicus, said.
Oceans reach record heat
Global sea surface temperatures also reached a new daily high and tied for the hottest August on record, extending a three-month run of record-breaking warmth across the world’s oceans.
More than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the oceans, helping limit warming over land but putting marine life, coral reefs and coastal communities under increasing pressure.
Record temperatures were recorded in several regions, including the Atlantic and Mediterranean and the tropical Pacific, where a powerful El Niño event is gaining strength.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern characterised by unusually warm Pacific waters. It can temporarily raise global temperatures and increase the risk of extreme weather, including floods, droughts and wildfires, in different parts of the world.
Fossil fuels blamed
Scientists say human activity, particularly the burning of coal, oil and gas, has warmed the planet by about 1.4°C since pre-industrial times and increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather.
Greenhouse gas emissions reached new highs in 2025. UN climate chief Simon Stiell described the latest figures as evidence of the growing cost of humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels.
READ ALSO: Wildfires And Heatwaves Threaten Global Air Quality, Public Health: UN
Climate scientist Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said climate change was making every El Niño event hotter. She warned that record-breaking temperatures would continue until countries stopped burning fossil fuels.
Europe records hottest summer
Copernicus said August marked the end of western Europe’s hottest summer on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2003. The June-August period was marked by successive heatwaves that closed schools, dried up rivers and increased the risk of destructive wildfires.
Between mid-July and mid-August, Europe’s EuroMomo monitoring platform estimated that more than 32,000 excess deaths occurred across the continent.
🚨 August 2026 was the warmest month ever recorded globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), who recorded a global average surface air temperature of 16.96°C, 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average.
(https://t.co/WCxeosi3t6) pic.twitter.com/asGdfg6YrT
— EU EnvironmentAgency (@EUEnvironment) September 10, 2026
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution network said a particularly intense heatwave in June would have been “virtually impossible” without the influence of climate change.
US also breaks heat record
Extreme heat was also recorded outside Europe. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Wednesday that the contiguous United States experienced its hottest summer on record.
Our Monthly Temperature and Precipitation Report is out again, this time for August/Summer 2026. Here are the highlights: https://t.co/z8UPAIN2ZL
— NOAA (@NOAA) September 9, 2026
According to an AFP analysis of Copernicus data, regions with a combined population of around 900 million people also experienced their hottest July ever recorded.
Scientists expect global temperatures to remain exceptionally high as the current El Niño event approaches peak intensity around December. They said 2027 – and possibly 2026 – could become the hottest year ever recorded.
